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Has anyone here ever had their phones 'hacked'?


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#1 Anthus

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Posted 02 December 2017 - 06:13 PM

I have a medium-tier phone model from a Florida based company called Blu. They basically buy off brand phones from China, and sell them at a bargain. The thing is, the manufacturers in China think it is a-ok to install spyware in the root of the phone in the form of a "System Update" and "Android Sync" app. Turns out, various sources have reported in the last few years that these are data collecting apps, and calls, call logs, texts, app usage data, pictures, microphone recordings and other information can, and have been sent to anonymous 3rd party Chinese servers. They don't seem to be after people's bank information thankfully, but seem to be more interested in personal information about you for some unknown reason. Do they sell it to advertisers? Are they just watching us like some sort of TV show? I dunno, but it's a huge invasion of privacy.

 

I noticed about a year ago, my phone had this weird update thing that would not go away. It looked fake as fuck, and not reputable at all. I did not run it. It seemed really sketchy, and after getting malwarebytes, and doing some research, I first discovered that this was happening on phones like mine. I was able to disable the app, and all was good until about a week ago when Malwarebytes noticed two PUPs called "Fota Provider", and "Fota Updater". MB cannot remove these. Now.. when a phone manufacture normally does a firmware update, or when Android updates its OS, it is usually, obviously, through a legit site, or app. This just reeks of malware, and further searching confirms this. 

 

These come in many forms, and have affected a few thousand phones. Just google it, there are lots of posts online about this from the last few years. There are ways to remove, and disable it, but until fairly recently, one had to root their phones to completely get rid of this, cause like a hydra, it would slowly come back. I'm in the process now, and I gotta say, this is hugely annoying. I don't recommend anyone ever buy anything from this company, or companies like this that sell cheap, off brand chinese shit. I feel dumb, as a consumer, for trusting this company.

 

Yeah kids, don't by cheap phones from companies that aren't well known. Has anyone else had to deal with anything like this?


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#2 Demonlink

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Posted 02 December 2017 - 07:39 PM

I have a medium-tier phone model from a Florida based company called Blu. They basically buy off brand phones from China, and sell them at a bargain. The thing is, the manufacturers in China think it is a-ok to install spyware in the root of the phone in the form of a "System Update" and "Android Sync" app. Turns out, various sources have reported in the last few years that these are data collecting apps, and calls, call logs, texts, app usage data, pictures, microphone recordings and other information can, and have been sent to anonymous 3rd party Chinese servers. They don't seem to be after people's bank information thankfully, but seem to be more interested in personal information about you for some unknown reason. Do they sell it to advertisers? Are they just watching us like some sort of TV show? I dunno, but it's a huge invasion of privacy.

 

I noticed about a year ago, my phone had this weird update thing that would not go away. It looked fake as fuck, and not reputable at all. I did not run it. It seemed really sketchy, and after getting malwarebytes, and doing some research, I first discovered that this was happening on phones like mine. I was able to disable the app, and all was good until about a week ago when Malwarebytes noticed two PUPs called "Fota Provider", and "Fota Updater". MB cannot remove these. Now.. when a phone manufacture normally does a firmware update, or when Android updates its OS, it is usually, obviously, through a legit site, or app. This just reeks of malware, and further searching confirms this. 

 

These come in many forms, and have affected a few thousand phones. Just google it, there are lots of posts online about this from the last few years. There are ways to remove, and disable it, but until fairly recently, one had to root their phones to completely get rid of this, cause like a hydra, it would slowly come back. I'm in the process now, and I gotta say, this is hugely annoying. I don't recommend anyone ever buy anything from this company, or companies like this that sell cheap, off brand chinese shit. I feel dumb, as a consumer, for trusting this company.

 

Yeah kids, don't by cheap phones from companies that aren't well known. Has anyone else had to deal with anything like this?

I've had like 3 BLU phones pass through me. Yes, I can partly agree with you to a point, given I've only had an issue with the very first BLU phone I had, the Dash 5.0. It started to download spyware automatically, but I got rid of it after the official Kitkat update had arrived back then. Other than that, I never had a similar issue occur again. One thing you could do is root the phone and get rid of those apps.

 

But to be honest, that was years ago. Since then, I've been buying well known brands ever since (today I just got a Samsung J7 2016). Next time, I'd suggest going for well known brands. :)

 

EDIT: PS. Also avoid clone phones, those things reek of adware and spyware. Trust me. :P


Edited by Demonlink, 02 December 2017 - 07:41 PM.


#3 Anthus

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Posted 02 December 2017 - 08:01 PM

I've heard good things about the Samsung J line as a slightly more affordable alternative to the S line.

 

I'm almost done backing up my stuff, and preparing things to root it. If it bricks, oh well, guess I'm going back to my older Moto E, or getting a Samsung J. :P


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#4 Demonlink

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Posted 02 December 2017 - 08:12 PM

I've heard good things about the Samsung J line as a slightly more affordable alternative to the S line.

 

I'm almost done backing up my stuff, and preparing things to root it. If it bricks, oh well, guess I'm going back to my older Moto E, or getting a Samsung J. :P

Before I forget, just try to avoid all MTK devices. Not that they're bad, but from a personal opinion, I trust Qualcomm and Samsung's Exynos processors more than Mediatek.

 

The J series is a rather good line of medium tech phones. Hmmmm, Samsung's flagship devices are normally from the S and Note series. I'd like to have a premium phone, but I don't want to fork over too much money for things I won't use (S Pen, Heartrate sensor, all of those things). In any case, last year I had the J7 2015 model, but silly me dropped it and the display got screwed. So, I'm giving the 2016 model a try this time. Heard good things about it.

 

 

If it bricks, oh well, guess I'm going back to my older Moto E, or getting a Samsung J. :P

Before you do anything, research google and find your device's factory firmware. If it's an MTK model, you'll need the Mediatek scatter file, and SP Flashtools to flash the firmware in case anything goes wrong. Normally, the scatter file is included with the firmware, so that's the only thing you'll be needing. (And the MTK drivers as well, obviously).


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#5 Anthus

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Posted 02 December 2017 - 08:29 PM

Thanks for the tip, but yeah, Mediatek chipsets seem to come preloaded with Adups which is the alleged backdoor spyware. This was the article I was reading before and an excerpt:

 

Specific phones known to include Adups more recently are the Blu Grand M and Cubot X16S. In addition to discovering the spyware in those two devices, Kryptowire’s Ryan Johnson told CNET he hasn’t found it in any handsets priced over $300. Additionally, only MediaTek chipsets have thus far been linked to the scheme. It would seem Adups is targeting low-cost hardware, predominantly from manufacturers that don’t sell phones in the U.S.

 

And this phone uses Mediatek chipset. Time for a new phone. I've been meaning to upgrade at some point anyway, but I generally like the phone itself. It's fast enough, and has a nice screen. For those curious, I have a BLU Studio One.


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#6 Deedee

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Posted 03 December 2017 - 01:25 AM

I don't care if an obscure company knows and tracks what things I like, so long as they don't dare show me any bloody ads.

In other words, go to hell Google.




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